Bull Run vs Gainesville

A side-by-side comparison of Bull Run and Gainesville: population, income, housing, and more.

Bull Run and Gainesville are places in Virginia. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Gainesville has the higher population (18,036 vs 16,688 in Bull Run). Gainesville has the higher median household income ($168,978 vs $86,487 in Bull Run). Gainesville has the higher median home value ($660,800 vs $378,800 in Bull Run).

Population, income & housing

	Bull Run	Gainesville
Population	16,688	18,036
Median age	33.7 yrs	37.5 yrs
Median household income	$86,487	$168,978
Median home value	$378,800	$660,800
Median gross rent	$1,912	$2,444
Housing units	6,821	5,989
Homeownership rate	35.3%	83.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	37.3%	56.7%
Unemployment rate	4.0%	2.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Bull Run	Gainesville
Population	16,651 → 16,688 (+0.2%)	17,287 → 18,036 (+4.3%)
Median household income	$68,502 → $86,487 (+26.3%)	$141,609 → $168,978 (+19.3%)
Median home value	$247,500 → $378,800 (+53.1%)	$491,500 → $660,800 (+34.4%)
Median gross rent	$1,612 → $1,912 (+18.6%)	$2,059 → $2,444 (+18.7%)

Bull Run

Population

16,65116,688

Median household income

$68,502$86,487

Median home value

$247,500$378,800

Median gross rent

$1,612$1,912

Gainesville

Population

17,28718,036

Median household income

$141,609$168,978

Median home value

$491,500$660,800

Median gross rent

$2,059$2,444

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Bull Run	Gainesville
Under 5	8.8%	7.8%
5 to 17	16.7%	19.9%
18 to 24	8.0%	10.1%
25 to 34	18.7%	8.5%
35 to 44	18.4%	18.7%
45 to 54	12.4%	14.7%
55 to 64	10.1%	11.5%
65 to 74	3.6%	5.7%
75 and over	3.3%	3.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Bull Run	Gainesville
White (non-Hispanic)	21.3%	49.8%
Black or African American	22.1%	16.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	12.6%	14.7%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.1%
Some other race	0.3%	0.8%
Two or more races	5.2%	5.2%
Hispanic or Latino	38.7%	12.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Bull Run	Gainesville
No high school diploma	15.5%	3.9%
High school graduate	24.4%	15.4%
Some college or associate's	22.8%	24.0%
Bachelor's degree	29.5%	32.1%
Graduate or professional degree	7.9%	24.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Bull Run	Gainesville
Drove alone	70.3%	65.1%
Carpooled	16.2%	7.2%
Public transit	0.3%	1.6%
Walked	1.7%	0.8%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.1%
Worked from home	11.3%	23.9%
Other means	0.1%	1.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Bull Run	Gainesville
1-unit, detached	5.0%	56.6%
1-unit, attached	31.2%	33.0%
2 to 4 units	3.8%	2.7%
5 to 19 units	52.1%	6.4%
20 or more units	7.8%	1.0%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	0.4%

Poverty & households

	Bull Run	Gainesville
Poverty rate	14.3%	3.9%
Average household size	2.60	3.06
Mean commute (minutes)	34	36
Median year structure built	1993	2007